Hobo With A Grin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Hobo with a Grin'' is the debut solo album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released by
EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
in 1978. The album was produced by Harley, except for " Roll the Dice", which was produced by Michael J. Jackson. Jackson also acted as additional producer on the album.


Background

In July 1977, Harley disbanded
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are a British glam rock band from the early 1970s from London. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles in ...
and began working on his debut solo album, which had the working title ''Couples''. Some of the material was written while Cockney Rebel were still active and other tracks were penned after their split. Recording sessions for six of the album's tracks at Abbey Road Studios in London was completed by early 1978, and during that February Harley then flew to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
to record a further three tracks in Los Angeles at Sunset Sound and Record Plant. The album featured contributions from ex-Cockney Rebel members and session musicians, including
Jim Cregan James Cregan (born 9 March 1946) is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a ...
, George Ford, Duncan Mackay, Stuart Elliott,
Gloria Jones Gloria Richetta Jones (born October 19, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter who first found success in the United Kingdom, being recognized there as "The Queen of Northern Soul". She recorded the 1965 hit song " Tainted Love" and has w ...
,
Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted in ...
, as well as American musicians such as Tom Moncrieff,
Bob Glaub Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...
, Bill Payne,
Roy Kenner Roy Douglas Kenner (born January 14, 1948 in Toronto) is a Canadian singer and songwriter, most notable as the lead vocalist of Mandala in the late 1960s and as the lead vocalist of the James Gang during 1972–1974. History Kenner's internationa ...
, Bobby Kimball and Michael McDonald. ''Hobo with a Grin'' cost £70,000 and took 18 months to make. With its completion, Harley decided to leave Britain and live in Los Angeles. He was first attracted to the city when mixing Cockney Rebel's album ''
Love's a Prima Donna ''Love's a Prima Donna'' is the fifth studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, which was released by EMI in 1976. It was produced by Harley, and would be the band's last album before splitting in 1977. Background Harley began writing mate ...
'' there in 1976. Harley purchased a house in
Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
and lived there for nearly a year to gain new experience and inspirations, although he later admitted he never wrote a single song while living in the US. When ''Hobo with a Grin'' was released to poor reviews and little commercial success, Harley quickly became dismissive of the album. Describing the material as "laid back Californian stuff", Harley told ''Superpop'' in 1978, "My latest album had no guts. I hated it. For the first time in my life I relinquished responsibility, listened to advice and acted on it, rather than do what I thought was right." He told the '' Daily Star'' that the album was "an experience", and in early 1979, told Maggi Russell that it was a "difficult album, and hard to market". Harley returned to live in England at the end of 1978 and began working on his second solo album '' The Candidate'', which was released in 1979. Speaking to the ''
Evening News Evening News may refer to: Television news *''CBS Evening News'', an American news broadcast *''ITV Evening News'', a UK news broadcast *'' JNN Evening News'', a Japanese news broadcast *''Evening News'', an alternate name for '' News Hour'' in so ...
'' that year, Harley said of ''Hobo with a Grin'', "I looked at that LP the other day – looking is enough. I can't bear to listen to it. It's the worst thing I've ever done. I just want to forget about it. Trash. In fact, I'm getting the old Cockney Rebel band together for a concert in London at the end of this month. And there won't be one song from the LP in the set." Harley's animosity for ''Hobo with a Grin'' has changed years after its release. Speaking to ''The Cockney Rebel Connections Show'' in 2020, he said it's an "interesting album" with "some really good moments on it".


Song information

Both "Amerika the Brave" and "
Someone's Coming "Someone's Coming" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released in 1979 as the second and final single from his 1978 debut solo album ''Hobo with a Grin''. It was written by Harley and Jo Partridge, and produced b ...
" feature contributions from Marc Bolan in his last studio performance, which took place at
AIR Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...
on 26 July 1977, less than two months before his death. Bolan provided guitar on "Amerika the Brave" and both guitar and backing vocals on "Someone's Coming", although he did not receive an official credit for the latter track. Speaking of Bolan's playing on "Amerika the Brave", Harley later recalled, "He plays fantastic electric guitar for me on that. He play dhis Les Paul. I paid his fee, but he wouldn't take it." In 1978, Harley recalled to ''
The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after '' The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its ...
'' of his friendship with Bolan, "I had known him for a couple of years. We were a lot different. He was much more of an extrovert than me, but we grew very close. They say opposites attract." Although it was not released as a single, 'Amerika the Brave' gained some disco play in the US. Harley described the song as being "my impression of the U.S... just telling what I see". "I Wish It Would Rain" is a cover of the 1967 song originally recorded by
The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...
. Harley revealed to ''The Morning Call'' that he replaced the song's R&B sound with a more rock and roll one, "I wanted to have a more rock and roll feel than The Temptations version. I defend it." "Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)" was dedicated to the 20th century British writer
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...
. Harley admitted, "I stole two or three lines from her book, "
The Waves ''The Waves'' is a 1931 novel by English novelist Virginia Woolf. It is critically regarded as her most experimental work, consisting of ambiguous and cryptic soliloquies spoken mainly by six characters; Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny a ...
," for that song". The song has been a consistent inclusion in Harley and the band's live sets (except between 2016 and 2020, before being reintroduced in 2021), much more so than any of the other songs on the album (though "Roll The Dice" did get played routinely between 1989 and 1992), however it is usually played in a much slower, acoustic arrangement when played live, with much improvisation after the lyrics have finished, with a call-and-response section added to the song from 2004 onwards. Harley would eventually play the album arrangement of the song for the first time in 2022, at a show celebrating his 70th Birthday that took place the year prior. Harley would later re-record the song for his 1996 album ''
Poetic Justice Poetic justice, also called poetic irony, is a literary device with which ultimately virtue is rewarded and misdeeds are punished. In modern literature, it is often accompanied by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own action, henc ...
'', though the version presented on this album is a recording of the aforementioned live arrangement of the track, as presented during one of Harley's concerts.


Release

''Hobo with a Grin'' was released by EMI Records in the UK and Europe in July 1978, and by Capitol Records in North America. The album was generally met with poor reviews and failed to achieve commercial success. The first single, " Roll the Dice", was released in the UK in July and the US in August, but failed to generate chart action. A second single released in the UK, a remixed version of "
Someone's Coming "Someone's Coming" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released in 1979 as the second and final single from his 1978 debut solo album ''Hobo with a Grin''. It was written by Harley and Jo Partridge, and produced b ...
", suffered a similar fate when it was released in February 1979. In 2000, ''Hobo with a Grin'' received its first CD release through Harley's own label, Comeuppance Discs. It contained two bonus tracks, the 1974 song "Spaced Out", which was the B-side of " Judy Teen", and a live version of the 1996 song "That's My Life in Your Hands" from ''
Poetic Justice Poetic justice, also called poetic irony, is a literary device with which ultimately virtue is rewarded and misdeeds are punished. In modern literature, it is often accompanied by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own action, henc ...
''. On 31 October 2011, ''Hobo with a Grin'' was digitally remastered and released on CD by BGO Records as a double album set with ''The Candidate''.


Promotion

Music videos for "Roll the Dice", "I Wish It Would Rain" and "Amerika the Brave" were filmed in the Bakersfield, California, to promote the album. The videos were shot on 35mm film over a two-day period. The video for "Roll the Dice" surfaced on YouTube in 2016.


Critical reception

On its release, Pete Silverton of ''
Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
'' commented, "Harley's album is undoubtedly the worst slab of vinyl from a relatively major artist since Framper's ''
I'm in You ''I'm in You'' is the fifth studio album by Peter Frampton. It was released on 28 May 1977, almost a year and a half after his blockbuster 1976 live album '' Frampton Comes Alive!'' It was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York, where '' ...
''. Try 'Amerika the Brave' – which, sad though it is to admit, has the best tune on the album and could make a single. Beyond the superficial Randy Newmanish attraction of the melody, 'Living in a Rhapsody' displays an even deeper understanding of the meaning of life. Other highlights: a version of 'I Wish It Would Rain' so spineless that it made me dig out my old Marvin Gaye single; a strong contender for dork of the year with '(I Don't Believe) God is an Anarchist', and, finally, overall unbounded happiness that he's relocated in palm tree and cocaine city. Keep it up, Steve." Rosalind Russell of ''
Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...
'' wrote, "If Steve Harley thinks this is rock and roll, he's living in his own nightmare. Except he probably doesn't see it that way: to him it must be a beautiful dream. The definition he had with Cockney Rebel has melted, he's gone fuzzy round the edges. He's also become surprisingly soppy. The only track I even began to like was 'Amerika the Brave'. It has a kick, it has some of the Harley bite. But, apart from this, the album has no teeth to speak of. Just a gentle, un-threatening wave of the jaw, like a dreamer murmuring in his sleep." In the US, '' Billboard'' noted, "Harley explores a number of musical styles here from a solid rock 'n' roll base. Lots of rock instrumentation is employed. Some tunes have a bluesy, R&B quality, while others have a soft, melodic feel. Overall the writing is poignant and Harley's voice has a pleasing pop sound. '' Cash Box'' felt the album " focuses upon Harley's irreverent, charismatic songwriting style and personality". They wrote, "''Hobo with a Grin'' contains a diverse array of material, ranging from the intimately-designed 'Living in a Rhapsody' to the exuberant 'Roll the Dice'. Backed up by several top session cats, Harley on this LP is finally set to attract a sizable U.S. following." '' Record World'' felt the album was "distinguished by several notable songs ('Amerika the Brave', 'Roll the Dice') and some excellent performances". They added, "His pleasing voice covers a wide range of material, sounding most comfortable with pop ballads." Len Righi of the American newspaper ''
The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after '' The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its ...
'' stated, "Two of the finest cuts on the LP are 'Riding the Waves' and '(I Don't Believe) God Is an Anarchist.' The former has a nice melody, poetic images, acoustic piano by Bill Payne of Little Feat, and Jo Partridge's oh-so-sweet guitar. The latter song features a powerful vocal and an R&B flavour." The ''
Poughkeepsie Journal The ''Poughkeepsie Journal'' is a newspaper based in Poughkeepsie, New York, and owned by Gannett, which bought the paper in 1977. Founded in 1785 (though not a daily newspaper until 1860), the ''Journal'' is the oldest paper in New York state, a ...
'' said: "This is Harley's most Americanized recording, and I think his best. While he'll never be the paradoxical combination of David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen he sometimes seems, Harley is a real rocker – smart enough to sing the Temptations' 'I Wish It Would Rain' better than Mick Jagger's ever covered Motown, dumb enough to dedicate a song to Virginia Woolf. Don't trust either – "Hot Youth" is this album's most blatant pitch to its potential audience, and the best Harley song I've ever heard."


Retrospective reviews

Dave Thompson of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
retrospectively stated, "''Hobo with a Grin'' marks the utter desecration of everything which Harley once stood for. Two new songs peep out of ''Hobo'' with anything remotely resembling pride – 'Riding the Waves' has sufficient art house pretension to remind us of 'Mr. Soft' and his friends; and 'Living in a Rhapsody' shares a vague familial resemblance to 'Make Me Smile.' There's also a smartly stylized cover of the Temptations' 'I Wish It Would Rain,' which possesses a heartfelt joyousness all the same. But 'Amerika the Brave,' 'God Is an Anarchist,' and 'Roll the Dice' are Harley wordplay-by-numbers: clever on paper, but too clever-clever by half. We already know he's a brilliant wordsmith; does he have to keep trying to show us how brilliant? And does there come a point when he'll stop, and try his hand at tunes as well? At its best, the bulk of ''Hobo'' is almost completely devoid of memorable melody. At its worst, it doesn't even pretend to care." In a review of the 2000 re-issue, '' Q'' said, "Sneered at then, it's aged rather well. Harley's self-production is as lush as his songs deserve, the towering 'Roll the Dice' features Michael McDonald on backing vocals and 'Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)' is the sound of a man who'd been boorish as a star maturing into dignified old age. Charts remained untickled. Time surely for a little readjustment of history."'' Q'', September 2000, p. 124 Reviewing the 2011 BGO double CD release of the album with ''The Candidate'', Terry Staunton of ''
Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...
'' stated, "Harley's opening brace of releases not to feature the Cockney Rebel name took him ever further away from the glam/art rock of his chart past. As road maps to what he had in mind for the next stage of his career, they're both a tad confused, arrows scrawled all over them in numerous directions. ''Hobo'' takes stabs at anything and everything; 'Amerika The Brave' stutters with Bowie bombast, 'Living in a Rhapsody' and 'Riding the Waves' tentatively exploring the subdued folk of Nick Drake, while a cover of The Temptations' 'I Wish It Would Rain' has the bleary-eyed fatigue of last orders pub-rock."


Track listing


Personnel

* Steve Harley – vocals *Jo Partridge – electric guitars (tracks 1, 6), guitar (track 2), acoustic guitar (tracks 5-7), electric lead solo (track 5), electric guitar (track 7) * Fred Tackett – acoustic guitar (track 1) *
Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted in ...
– guitar (track 2), acoustic guitar (track 6), backing vocals (track 6) *
Jim Cregan James Cregan (born 9 March 1946) is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a ...
– acoustic guitar, electric guitar (track 3) *
Ian Bairnson Ian Bairnson (born 3 August 1953 as ''John Bairnson'') is a Scottish musician, best known for being one of the core members of The Alan Parsons Project. He is a multi-instrumentalist, who has played saxophone and keyboards, although he is best ...
– acoustic guitar, electric guitars (track 4) * Tom Moncrieff – electric guitar solo (track 4) *Greg Porée – electric guitar (tracks 5, 8), classical guitar (track 8) * Bill Payne – acoustic piano (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8), organ (track 4) * Duncan Mackay – electric piano (tracks 1, 5-6), harpsichord (track 1), synthesizer (tracks 1-3, 5, 8-9), keyboards (tracks 2, 7, 9), piano (track 4), Hammond organ (track 8) *Chris Mercer – saxophone (track 2) *
Bob Glaub Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...
– bass (tracks 1, 5) *Alan Jones – bass (track 4) *George Ford – bass (track 6) *
Herbie Flowers Brian Keith "Herbie" Flowers (born 19 May 1938) is an English musician specialising in electric bass, double bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T. Rex and Sky. Flowers has contributed to recordings by Elton John (''Tumblewe ...
– acoustic bass (track 7) *
Reggie McBride Reggie McBride (born September 17, 1954) is an American bass player. Biography McBride was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, United States; listening to Motown records, he began to play bass at the age of 8. At the age of 14, he played in ...
– bass (track 8) *
Rick Shlosser Rick Shlosser is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. He has been a member of Van Morrison's band and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He's also been a varied sessions drummer. Discography 1970s * Andy Pratt - ''Records Are Like Life'' (1 ...
– drums (tracks 1, 5) *
Ricky Fataar Ricky Fataar (born 5 September 1952) is a South African-English multi-instrumentalist of Cape Malay descent, who has performed as both a drummer and a guitarist. He gained fame as an actor in ''The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash'', a spoof on ...
– drums (tracks 2, 4) * Stuart Elliott – drums (track 6) *
Paul Humphrey Paul Nelson Humphrey (October 12, 1935 – January 31, 2014) was an American jazz and R&B drummer. Biography Humphrey was born in Detroit and began playing drums at age 8, taking private lessons in Detroit. In high school he played baritone hor ...
– drums (track 8) *Michael J. Jackson – percussion (track 1), intro piano (track 9) *Simon Morton – percussion (track 2), additional percussion (track 8) *Chris Caron – percussion (track 2), additional percussion (track 8) *
Luís Jardim Luís Alberto Figueira Gonçalves Jardim (born 4 July 1950) is a Portuguese percussionist, born in the Madeira Island, best known for his work with producer Trevor Horn. Family Jardim is a cousin of Alberto João Jardim (former president of the ...
– percussion (tracks 2, 7), additional percussion (track 8) *James Isaacson – tambourine (track 6), drums (track 9) *Lindsey Elliott – congas (track 6) *King Errisson – congas (track 8) * Michael McDonald – backing vocals (track 1) *
Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, musician, arranger, producer, and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the band Chicago from 1981–2009. ...
– backing vocals (tracks 1, 5) *
Rosemary Butler Rosemary Ann Butler (born April 6, 1947) is an American singer. She began her career playing bass guitar and singing in an all-female band named the Ladybirds while attending Fullerton Union High School in Fullerton, California. The band appeared ...
– backing vocals (tracks 1, 4) * Bobby Kimball – backing vocals (tracks 1, 5) *Tom Kelley – backing vocals (tracks 1, 5) *
Yvonne Keeley Yvonne Keeley (born Yvonne Paaij, 6 September 1952) is a Dutch pop music singer. She is the sister of Patricia Paay. She began her career as a session singer in the music industry in London. She was the girlfriend of Steve Harley of Steve ...
– backing vocals (tracks 2-3, 6, 8-9) *John Townsend – backing vocals (track 4) *
Roy Kenner Roy Douglas Kenner (born January 14, 1948 in Toronto) is a Canadian singer and songwriter, most notable as the lead vocalist of Mandala in the late 1960s and as the lead vocalist of the James Gang during 1972–1974. History Kenner's internationa ...
– backing vocals (track 4) *
Gloria Jones Gloria Richetta Jones (born October 19, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter who first found success in the United Kingdom, being recognized there as "The Queen of Northern Soul". She recorded the 1965 hit song " Tainted Love" and has w ...
– backing vocals (tracks 6, 9) * Barry St. John – backing vocals (track 8) *Jimmy Horowitz – string arrangement (tracks 3-4, 6), horn arrangement (track 3) Production *Steve Harley – producer (all tracks) *Michael J. Jackson – producer (track 1), additional production (all tracks), mixing (all tracks) *James Isaacson – remix engineer (all tracks), additional recording (all tracks), engineer (tracks 1, 5) *
John Haeny John Haeny is an American-born music producer, recording and mixing engineer, sound designer and academic. From the late 1960s through the late 1980s he recorded, mixed and produced hundreds of albums. He worked with a variety of artists across m ...
– engineer (track 1) *Tony Clark – engineer (tracks 2-3, 6-7, 9) *Peter James – engineer (track 4) *Gary Ladinsky – engineer (track 8) *Paul Black – assistant engineer (track 1) * Haydn Bendall – assistant engineer (tracks 2-3, 6-7, 9) *Ken Perry – mastering Sleeve *Jim Shea – photography *Kosh – design


Charts


References

{{Authority control Steve Harley albums 1978 albums EMI Records albums